Many of you already know but Dan and I have the honor and privilege of working with an amazing group of new staff this year focused on sharing Jesus in the Deaf community! So I thought as I share Israel testimonies I could introduce our new staff at the same time! So I asked each of our staff to share a testimony so that you can met them as well as hear more about what God did in Israel. To meet all of our staff and read a profile about who they are visit www.asldts.com/school-leaders/ !
So it is an honor to introduce one of our first staff: Elizabeth Brandow. She is sharing a testimony from Tiberias, North of Israel, which in is Upper Galilee, where Jesus grew up, Nazareth, and lived during this ministry, Capernuam. After her testimony, I have pictures of other opportunities, ministries and fun times we had during our week up North.
We spent a week
in Tiberias and worked a little bit with Bill Rogers. Really, Bill
scheduled many of our events, throughout the week. Everything from
food ministry to even inviting us to join for worship at the Battle
of Hittin. We even did worship songs at the local Messiah church he
attends but one of my favorite ministry days was when we went to
Jordan Valley and spent some time at the First Pioneer Kibbutz.
From my understanding from the few people there the we meet, a Kibbutz is a place located in several places in Israel. Passed down in the last 100 years to the second Jewish immigration to Israel. At some point, young Jews began to rebel against religion and tradition wanting freedom but still hold onto their Jewish inheritance. So they formed communities or settlements where people worked and the majority of their income goes to the community which pays for housing, food and basic necessities. People eat, sleep and breath together since 1912. But because of Shabbat, it was very quiet and only a few people around.
I thought we were walking into the show called “lost” for a while until we finally met a man named Hagi. He said he was born and raised there. Jointed the Israel military for two years, where he fell in love with his wife. But did not marry until they both returned to the Kibbutz. He was the one who took a few moments of his time to explain about the Kibbutz and his own history. He said he worked in environment reserves for many years and then retired. But he still helps in his community.
Picture with Hagi and us
I thought we were walking into the show called “lost” for a while until we finally met a man named Hagi. He said he was born and raised there. Jointed the Israel military for two years, where he fell in love with his wife. But did not marry until they both returned to the Kibbutz. He was the one who took a few moments of his time to explain about the Kibbutz and his own history. He said he worked in environment reserves for many years and then retired. But he still helps in his community.
We walked around for a bit and met a few other people and then we started walking towards other school buildings but saw a door open and of course we were curious and walked in. We found a woman working in her office and she was delighted to see us. She said her husband had come home for lunch and was talking about three beautiful and very nice American girls. Then we asked about her husband to see if it was the same man that we had met earlier that day, Hagi. I got so excited because when Hagi mentioned he had a wife, I began to pray about meeting this wife, Amela. And God lead us right to her! She told us to help ourselves to coffee/tea and cookies and sit outside. She was actually delighted to have someone come and take her away from her work and did not mind waiting until Sunday, as it was Friday afternoon and Shabbat would start soon.
Amela's office, Liza with some tea
We talked for an hour. She has been a student, music teacher and during the 6 day war, she managed to care for cattle with just a 16 year old boy when all the men where at war. But she said it was her favorite thing to do! She talked about Hagi and her children for a little bit. Shared her desires to travel more because Hagi does not like to. We began asking about her faith. She mentioned God but did not care for religion or traditions. She really believed in woman’s rights and she said she hated the Crusaders and everything they did. Renca and I agreed and mentioned we do not believe in taking God's name in vain that way and simply followed Jesus. She began to soften up and agreed a little. We do not think she was a believer. We began to encourage her. As we were able to leave, she began to open up about her son who passed away and losing her father and brother. Her father went to war and her brother was taken and never seen again. We encouraged her to have hope and continue to be strong and she just welled up and started crying. We hugged and asked for a picture and then said good bye. As we were leaving, we prayed God would soften her heart and encourage her and Hagi. I prayed their marriage would be strong and they will be able to keep on.
Us and Amela, Hagi's wife
It was honestly
encouraging to see a couple married happily and have a sense of
humor. To support each other through their trails. It was hard to
hear that she hated Christians because of the Crusaders and the
people who hurt her family over the years. I wished we had more time
so I could share about the Father's heart but I know God has other
plans for her and the simple prayer of guiding us to Hagi's wife was
an amazing blessing.
Worship at the Battle of Hittin where we joined another YWAM DTS from Kona
Mt of Beatitudes, the traditional site where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mt
Bill Rogers teaching us in Capernaum, where Jesus lived during this years of ministry
Dan and I at Capernaum in ruins of a Jewish Synagogue where Jesus taught
Yardneit on the Jordan River, a possible site where Jesus was baptized
Renca and Kari got baptized there!
Hannukkah outreach in Tiberias, playing Dreidel
(the older people had more fun then the kids!)
Talking to people afterwards and sharing Jesus
Packing food boxes for families in need
Jewish Shabbat traditional Dinner that Kayla made us
Our team leading some worship songs at a Messiah Jewish congregation
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